Rotary piston engine



Jufly 27, 1965 R. OHLENDORF ROTARY PISTON ENGINE Filed May 1, 1961 FIG FIG

FIG 2 INVENTOR. ROLF OHLENDORF BY & 0M s MAW? ATTO Y5.

United States Patent 3,196,846 ROTARY PISTON ENGINE Rolf @hlendorf, Stuttgart-Wangen, Germany, assignor to Daimier-Benz Aktiengesellschaft, Stuttgart-Unterturkheirn, Germany Filed May 1, 1961, Ser. No. 196,636

Ciaims priority, application Germany, May 5, 1960,

1 Claim. (Cl. 123-8) The present invention relates to a rotary-piston internal combustion engine, and more particularly relates to a rotary-piston internal combustion engine operating according to the disk piston principle and provided with control means of the inlet to and outlet from the engine by means of the rotary piston itself.

The present invention essentially consists in arranging a shifting or switching mechanism within the path of the combustion air or combustion mixture to the combustion space and within the path of the exhaust gases toward the atmosphere by means of which the operative connection of the outer channel sections of the inlet and outlet channels with the inner sections of the inlet and outlet channels terminating within the combustion space may be selectively interchanged for purposes of controlling the direction of rotation of the engine. In this manner, the-re may be realized a very simple arrangement for such control which may be organically built into or inserted into the engine.

In particular, it is proposed in accordance with the present invention to construct the shifting or switching mechanism as a rotary slide valve. The arrangement may be made thereby in such a manner that the cross-sectional surfaces of the outer and inner channel sections which terminate at the outer end face of the rotary slide valve are disposed opposite one another, that the inlet and outlet channels are displaced by 180 in relation to the axis of the rotary slide valve and that the rotary slide valve is provided with a pair of axially extending channels displaced by 180 with respect to each other and with a pair of channels also displaced by 1 80 with respect to each other and crossing one another, the two pairs being adapted to be selectively brought into the respective operative position thereof by rotation of the slide valve.

During operation of the engine in the opposite direction of rotation, it may be necessary to rely on auxiliary engine parts such as spark plugs, injection nozzles, or the like which have .a different location relative to corresponding parts used during operation in the normal direction of rotation. Consequently, according to another feature of the present invention, it is proposed that an operative connection be provided between the shifting or switching mechanism for the inlet and outlet channels and a further shifting or switching mechanism alternately cont-rolling such auxiliary engine devices as, for example, spark plugs, injection nozzles or the like, in dependence on the direction of rotation of the engine.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rotary-piston internal combustion engine which is provided with simple control means to enable rotation thereof in either direction of rotation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a control installation, adapted to be installed as an organically built-in part of a rotary piston engine which is operative, by simple means, to enable rotation of the internal combustion engine in either direction of rotation.

Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of a control installation, for example, adapted to be actuated manually, which controls simultaneously the inlet and outlet passages for the combustion engines as well as other auxiliary engine means such as spark plugs, injection nozzles, etc. to selectively adapt the same to ice the required operating conditions permitting alternate operation of the engines in opposite directions of rotation.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, for purposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, and wherein FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional view through a rotary piston engine in accordance with the present invention, schematically illustrating also the control mechanism in accordance with the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view taken along line II-II of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line III-4H of FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line IVIV of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the various views to desig nate corresponding parts, and more particularly to FIG- URE 1, reference numeral 10 designates therein the engine housing which defines or limits the combustion space. Piston 11 rotates within the engine housing and cooperates therewith to define the combustion space. The center axis 12 of the piston 11 additionally carries out a circular movement about the main engine axis 13. This movement of the piston 11 is attained, in a manner known per se, by the use of an internal toothed arrangement 14 rigid with the piston 11 which rolls 011 along a stationary pinion 15. The outer section of the inlet channel for the combustion air or fuel-air mixture is designated by reference numeral 16 and the corresponding section of the outlet channel for the exhaust gases by reference numeral 17. A rotary slide valve 18 is inserted between the aforementioned channel sections 16 and 17, on the one hand, and the inner channel extensions 19 and 25) thereof, on the other, the latter being selectively in communication with the combustion space.

The rotary slide valve member 18 is adapted to be moved by rotating the shaft 21. The rotary slide valve member 13 is thereby provided with two diametrically opposite channels 22 and 23 which extend parallelly to the axis thereof and with two further diametrically opposite channels 24 and 25 which cross each other. The pair of axially parallel channels 22 and 23 and the pair of crossing channels 24 and 25 are displaced with respect to each other, for example, by

In the illustrated embodiment, the engine is constructed as a mixture-compressing injection type internal combustion engine or gas engine provided with externally controlled ignition. The fuel is selectively injected through the injection nozzle 26 or 27, and the mixture is ignited by means of spark plug 28 or 29, respectively. During operation, either nozzle 26 and spark plug 28 or nozzle 27 and spark plug 29 are rendered operative, For that purpose, appropriate shifting or switch means 30 and 31, of any known conventional construction, are provided for the selective supply of fuel and ignition current to the injection nozzles and spark plugs, respectively. The shifting or switching mechanism 30 which may be in the form of a suit-able rotary slide valve is supplied with fuel from an injection pump 33 of conventional construction through a fuel supply line 32 whereas the ignition cur-rent is selec tively supplied to the spark plugs 28 or 29 from the igni tion coil 35, again of conventional construction, through line 34 and switch means 31 which may be in the form of a conventional rotary distribution switch. The switching or shifting means 30 and 31 are thereby so arranged and constructed that the required of the fuel and ignition current to the individual auxiliary engine devices 26, 27,

3 28 and 29 is effected thereby. The switching or shifting means 30 and 31 are thereby actuated from a common shifting shaft 36 which is adapted to be manually actuated through a meshing gear set 37 from a manually operated shifting or switching wheel 38. The shaft 21 of the rotary valve member 18 is simultaneously actuated through a suitable shaft connection 39 with the aid of the hand wheel 38. Of course, it is understood that in the place of the hand wheel 38 any other suitable shifting means may be used which is operative to produce the same control efiect.

In the position illustrated in FIGURE 1, the combustion air reaches the combustion space within the engine housing through the channel parts 16, 24 and and 20. The rotary piston at the same time rotates in the direction of arrow 40 so that the nozzle 26 and the spark plug 28 are used during such operation. If the operation of the engine is to be reversed, then the hand wheel 38 is rotated until the shaft 21 has been moved through a quarter of a rotation thereof. Suitable abutment or stop means may be provided at the hand wheel or any other part of the switching mechanism to limit the rotation of shaft 21 to a quarter of a turn or to such other angular rotation as determined by the location of the pairs of channels within the rotary slide valve member 18. As a result of such rotation of the hand wheel 38, the channels 22 and 23 within the rotary slide valve member 18 now coincide with the apertures of the channels 16 and 17 so that the combustion air reaches the combustion space within the engine housing 10 through the channel sections 16, 22 and 19 whereas the exhaust gases reach the atmosphere through channel sections 20, 23 and 17. Shaft 36 is also rotated simultaneously with the rotation of the hand wheel 38 whereby the supply of fuel and ignition current are adjusted within the shifting and switch means and 31 to cooperate with the nozzle 27 and spark plug 29, respectively.

While I have shown and described one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it is understood that the same is not limited thereto but is susceptible of many changes and modifications within the spirit and scope thereof, and I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the specific details shown and described herein but intend to cover all'such changes and modifications as are encompassed by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A rotary piston internal combustion engine comprising engine housing means, polygonal rotary piston means within said engine housing means, said engine housing means and rotary piston means effectively defining there between a plurality of combustion space means, two sets of spark plug means and two sets of injection means for said combustion space means, inlet means for supplying combustion air to said combustion space means, outlet means for exhausting exhaust gases from said combustion space means, means for controlling the rotary movements of said piston means in such a manner that said piston means periodically completely closes a respective inlet and outlet means with respect to the combustion chamber means, ignition means including ignition control means for selectively rendering operative one or the other set of said spark plug means, fuel supply means for said injection means including injection control means for selectively rendering operative one or the other set of said injection means, switching means within said inlet and outlet means for selectively changing the interconnection between inner and outer sections of said inlet and outlet means depending on the direction of rotation of the engine including a rotary slide valve member provided with two pairs of interconnecting passages, the terminal apertures of a respective pair being disposed diametrically opposite one another with respect to the axis of rotation of the slide valve member and the plane passing through the terminal apertures of one pair being disposed at an angle of about 90 to the plane passing through the terminal apertures of the other pair of interconnecting passages, the pair of interconnecting passages providing a communication between respective inner and outer sections of the inlet and outlet means being substantially straight with the slide valve member in the position corresponding to the preferred direction of rotation of the engine, and means operatively connecting said switching means with said ignition and said injection control means for selectively enabling and disabling corresponding means of said two sets.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 639,541 12/99 Dyer et al -53 697,143 4/02 Harding 60-53 873,819 12/07 Wing 60-53 932,463 8/09 Goyette 123-16 991,631 5/11 Miner 123-16 X 1,126,812 2/15 McQueen 60-53 1,186,332 6/16 Rhoads. 2,932,257 4/60 Lupin, 60-52 2,988,065 6/61 Wankel et a1. 123-8 2,989,951 6/61 Charlson 123-8 X JOSEPH H. BRANSON, In, Primary Examiner.

RALPH I-I. BRAUNER, Examiner. 

